Valerie L. Wright

Current board vice
president Valerie L. Wright is serving her second term as a trustee. She earned
a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan
State University in interior design. She works at Diekema Hamann Architecture as a senior interior
designer, working on projects in the healthcare, corporate, educational, and
religious sectors.

She grew up in the midst of a small town public
library where her mother served as the librarian for sixteen years and where
reading was not an option, “it was something we just did”. Valerie credits this
experience as a powerful influence in her life and a strong motivator in wanting
to serve on the Kalamazoo Public Library board.

Her reading life and
professional life constantly overlap as she had a client recently comment that
she must have such a great imagination because of all of her reading. Having the
opportunity to serve as an advocate for the patrons of the library and as a
trustee advocate for public libraries in general is something she is genuinely
grateful for.